Into Infinity
by Skyegirl
Summary: Chihiro and Kohaku's daughter, Keiko has entered the spirit world to keep her end of a bargain with Yubaba. Will she ever make it home again, or is the pull of a more interesting life too strong to resist? *SUSPENDED* Sorry!
1. Enter the Spirit World

Into Infinity

Chapter One: Sold My Soul

"Kohaku, it's getting late. Don't you have to go to work for a few hours today?" Chikako heard her mother, Chihiro, yell down the stairs to her father.

"I'll leave soon," He called back, "Its still summer for a few more weeks. My boss'll understand if I take it easy."

Chikako sighed over her bowl of ramen. Her parents were so plain and normal sometimes. You'd never guess her father wasn't human. For years Chikako had known about Kohaku, her father, being a river spirit. She knew about the door to the spirit realm as well. When she was a small child once her father had taken her there to see Yubaba and Zeniba. Then he had forbidden her to ever return without him.

Of course, she had disobeyed. Chikako was curious. She had always loved to be where she was forbidden. For the next few years she had visited regularly every other month. But she never went too far, or saw anyone her father knew. She was adventurous, not stupid.

But one day, she did go too far. She crossed the river too close to night, and didn't make it home. That was when she found herself indebted to a certain mage.

Chikako sighed. Her parents had grown so boring. I mean, her father could _fly_, but no, he chose to live as a human. Chikako stuffed down her food, grabbed her carefully prepared backpack and slipped out the door, leaving a note on the table just in case. She knew Hotaru would cover for her for a while. That's what best friends were for.

"I am going now. I'll see you later. Bye!" She called over her shoulder.

"Be careful!" her parents chimed. She shuddered, and began the long walk down hill from their two-storied blue house. Chikako loved her parents, she just thought that they had lost their... spark. They were plain now. Not that there was anything wrong with that. It just didn't interest _her_. Spirits, now they were interesting.

Chikako walked silently through the woods. She had been waiting years for this moment. She had been ten when this… _deal_ had come into existence. She has fifteen now, and she was ready to pay off her debt.

Dirt and leaves crunched beneath her sneakers. She heard the wind rushing past her, with better places to go. The deep she got into the woods, the less woodland creatures she could hear. Very few were brave enough to dwell in_ these_ woods.

The path she walked was obviously little used, if not abandoned all together. But that made sense. Those who might use it would surely come to regret it. Unless they wanted to become supper to a bunch of rather cruel spirits.

She reached the faded red building after walking for what seemed like an eternity. The tunnel looked… imposing, as though it had no end.

"I am coming, Yubaba." Chikako whispered to the trees, "Don't you dare presume I'll run away."

She hoisted her pack farther up on her shoulder and raised her chin to try and look a little less afraid. This was right. She was keeping her word. But, how long would it be until her parents found out? A few days, tops. Still, a deal's a deal.

Chikako squared her shoulders crossed the threshold into the spirit world without looking back.

……………….

She was in a train station. It was dark and kind of gloomy. Chikako kept walking.

Now she saw a sea of grass, and the long walk up to the bathhouse. It was late afternoon, close to five, and she was simply waiting for the sun to set. Until it did, she had no way to enter the spirit world through the portal, still, she knew better then to wait for sunset inside the station. She had to be by the bridge.

She began the walk. The sat down when she reached the bridge. She took out a paperback and began to read. When lights began to turn on she closed her book and whispered a spell.

Invisible, she snuck across the bridge and into the bathhouse as soon as the spirits began to appear. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a billowing black hooded cloak over it. She also wore a silver crescent moon necklace her mother had given her, for luck.

Chikako know she probably looked a little strange, but it was the most spirit-like thing she could find. It was a good thing she was invisible. No one seemed to notice her as she made her way towards the back entrance to the boiler room.

She was careful not to hit anyone, and she was sure that she was almost in the clear when she reached the door. Then she saw a young man standing about thirty feet away, leaning nonchalantly against the wall. He was definitely starring straight at her.

She looked around, trying to see if maybe some other, more visible, person happened to be standing near by. But no, she was alone. She turned back towards the boy. He looked about her age, sixteen at most. Then again, if he was a spirit he could be closer to a hundred. He had black hair that was long and uneven, it was falling into his face so he constantly had to push it out of the way so he could see. His eyes were a very bright blue.

He had to be a spirit, she decided. No human, besides her and her mother, had ever survived in the spirit world without being transformed. Besides, he could see through her magic!

He smiled and waved when he realized he'd caught her attention. Then he pointed towards the door she stood at, reminding her off her mission. He walked away, hands in his pockets and whistling.

She shook her head, and headed towards Kamajii's boiler-room. The steep stairs sufficiently distracted her from the handsome young man who could see through her father's spell.

When she reached the boiler room she removed the spell and smiled at her adopted uncle, who was busily working away, like normal.

"Chikako!" Kamajii hissed, "Is that you child? You've grown so much! You know you shouldn't be here." After a minute he added, "Where's your father?" Kamajii was never one to rush.

Chikako shrugged, "The human world." She said, "Besides, I don't need his permission to be here. I'm fifteen."

Kamajii looked her up and down, "You're just as plucky as your mother, and as stubborn as your father." He finally said, turning back to his bath-filling task, "If you're here for Yubaba, she's upstairs. You better hurry, before she takes off for the night."

Chikako bowed politely, her long brown hair falling in her face. "Thank you, Uncle Kamajii. Please don't tell father I'm here. You know why I'm here, but he really doesn't need to."

Kamajii sighed, "I don't keep secrets like that, girl, not even for you. I wont let Haku worry like that. If he comes looking for you, I'll tell him you went to Yubaba."

Chikako shrugged again. "Fare enough." She said, bowing to her uncle as she took the back exit out. At least Kamajii wasn't going to try and stop her. He was a good man, and she loved him for that. Her trusted her to make her own decisions.

She slipped into an elevator without being discovered and went up quickly before any unsavory spirits could try and join her. When she reached the top floor, where Yubaba dwelled she came face to face with the boy she had seen downstairs.

"You dropped the spell," he said, "That's good. You look better like this." He smiled. He was flirting with her.

Chikako ignored him.

"I am here to see Yubaba. Please step aside." She said firmly. He obediently moved. She began to walk done the long hall. He fell in step with her.

The boy looked sad. "Don't see her. Go home, human. If you see her now, she'll make sure you live to regret it. Please, just go."

"I can't" Chikako said firmly, although the boys pleading had certainly unnerved her, "I have a promise to fulfill, a debt to repay. If I break my word, I'll never be able to enter this world again. I couldn't live with that."

"Can you live with never leaving here?" he retorted, "Because you are condemning yourself to a life in the bathhouse, trust me I know. Do you never want to see your world again?"

"If I wish to go home, I _will_ find a way. Trust me." He didn't look very convinced. Still she had reached the door now, so it didn't much matter what he thought.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked a final time.

"Yes." She said quite clearly. He nodded solemnly and held the door open for her. He followed her in and closed it behind him.

"This girl is here to see you, Yubaba." He said gravely. Yubaba turned her huge chair away from the window so she could get a good look at her visitor.

"Ah, the child of Chihiro and Kohaku. So you came. I'm impressed." Yubaba smiled creepily, "It's time for you to make good our bargain. It has been five years, but I trust you haven't forgotten."

"No ma'am." Chikako said.

"Good." Yubaba laughed, passing a contract to the girl she added, "Sign here, darling."

Chikako gulped, then picked up the pen and signed. An unwanted shiver ran up her back.

Yubaba laughed a cruel laugh, summoning the paper to her. "You belong to me now, sweetie, just like _him_." She pointed one gnarled finger at the boy, who looked down at his feet. Chikako gulped. Maybe this wasn't the best idea…

"Chikako, eh? You shall be Keiko from now on. You are dismissed. Akio, I leave her in your care, but I want her back here by tomorrow morning." One bejeweled had waved the two out the door.

"Annnnnndddd…. You just sold your soul." Akio sighed once they were a safe distance from the door. "Good luck. Now, let's find you a place to sleep."

AN: This is the first time I've written a Spirited Away fanfic, but I think it turned out extremely well. I hope you all like it too! Please, please, please, review! I'll try to update again in early June, but finals are coming, so no promises.

- A-san


	2. Falling into Repetition

Chapter Two: Falling into Repetition

Keiko woke to her blankets being pulled roughly off of her. "Aunt Lin!" she cried at her mother's childhood mentor. "Shush, Chikako" Lin scolded, "I told you not to sleep in!"

Keiko ignored this chastising, jumping out of her bedroll and tripping her way to the window. "Oh, shit!" she cursed, grabbing her clothes in one hand while trying to shove them on with the other. The sun was already up and Yubaba would be expecting her. This was her third day as Yubaba's personal slave. She had found that so far they followed a set pattern.

Step one: Get up and dress before dawn. Two: report to Yubaba and being assigned the weighty task of cleaning, running and inspecting the bathhouse as well as any extra grunt work. Step three: Do as you're told. Get used to being a whipping boy (girl) and do ten times the best that you can. Four: report to Yubaba at the end of the day and be informed of what you did wrong throughout steps one through three. Step Five: repeat.

It was pure torture, day in and day out, but it was Keiko's own stubborn curiosity that had brought her to this point. It all came back to the deal she had made with Yubaba five years previously. Keiko, then known as Chikako, had sworn to give up her former identity as a human and work for Yubaba for one complete year.

At the end of the year she would be given a choice: return to the human world forever or embrace her half-spirit heritage. Yubaba would essentially bestow upon her all the water spirit powers of her father, Kohaku. Or else she could go back to her very plain, ordinary life and have this entire year erased from her memory.

Keiko knew what she wanted now just as she had known what she had wanted when she was ten, already tired by her normal human existence. Now the question was what did Yubaba want. Obviously she gained another soulless servant, but she had plenty of those. Keiko knew that she must be special, or Yubaba never would have agreed to her offer. Was this all just a disgruntled employers payback against her worst pupils? Was Yubaba trying to get back at her parents by stealing away their precious daughter? Keiko couldn't tell if this was revenge or something more.

While contemplating this for the hundredth time in the past three days, Keiko slipped and slid in her stocking feet down the long wooden corridors. Her high wooden shoes were clutched tightly in her hands, and with every step she ran they slinked noisily against each other. At every turn she heard jeers and jokes at her expense. Not quite as polite as her mother or refined as her father, Keiko flipped the jokers off and kept running.

When she stepped out of the elevator she was a mess. Her hair was one horrible case of bed hair, flying crazily about her in a cloud, and the ties that held her sleeves back were loose and drooping. Her cheeks were flushed and she was breathing heavily.

When she spotted Akio at the door she bowed politely, pals touching in front of her like they always did in the movies. Akio, who stood guard at the first doors laughed at this mock salute, respectfully return the gesture before briskly walking to her side.

"Get much beauty sleep?" he joked, taking in her disheveled appearance and the lateness of the hour. She ignored him completely with a sarcastic, "ha ha" as her only response. She tried to retie her sleeves back. She failed miserably. So far Aunt Lin had always helped her with the tying, but it was a little late for that now.

Akio sighed at her pathetic attempts, gently pushing aside her hands and expertly tying the sleeves for her. His hands were quick and accurate, although surprisingly warm against her neck. She blushed at the contact, thankful for once that she was already so red no one would notice. Even if her was a spirit, and she wasn't sure of that, Keiko found Akio surprisingly handsome. She'd always had a thing for blue eyes, something she so rarely encountered growing up in Japanese suburbia.

Yubaba's henchman he may be, but Keiko found him to be kind and generous, with a quick sense of humor and an inviting smile. She mentally slapped herself for crushing after him. She returned her attention to trying to get her wild blue-black hair under control. Her hair had been darkening into the strange color of her fathers every since she had entered the spirit world. She wondered vaguely if it would ever change back.

As she tired to manipulate the tangled mass even she knew it was a losing battle. This was something Akio was also quick to point out.

He reached his hand out towards her, gently pushing her hair back behind her ears. As he moved his hand quickly back to his side it brushed gently against her lips for a fraction of a second. The both turned guiltily away, and it was his turn to brush ever so slightly.

"Keiko!" Yubaba's voice boomed from above them. She flinched. It was never a good idea to anger the owner of the bathhouse, particularly when your contract literally stated that she owned you as well. The doors slammed open in front of them, exposing the long, bare corridor she had come to dread.

"Good luck," Akio whispered as Keiko flew down the hall with swift, determined strides. She moved far too quickly to have possibly heard him. With a sigh and a flick of his wrist he closed door after door as she passed. Poor Keiko stilled had no idea what the bathhouse and its owner could do to her. She was in over her head with no idea that she was drowning.

"Show your respect, you insolent child!" Yubaba barked. Instantly Keiko dropped her hands to her thighs and bowed deeply. But throughout this required show of submission she kept her eyes of Yubaba's, never once lowering her gaze.

Yubaba rose quickly from her chair for one of such bulk, striding over to confront the girl. She raised one bejeweled hand in front of her and slapped Keiko across the face. "You will show me reverence!" she snapped, "You still hold yourself as a queen, little girl. It would be prudent for you to remember you are now a slave. Not even your own name belongs to you now." Keiko gave the tiniest of nods, her gaze and posture still hard as iron. A small trickle of blood slid down her cheek where the skin had been broken open by one of Yubaba's rings.

"You have too much of your parents in you," Yubaba sighed, "Both were always far to stubborn for their own good." For the first time in a long time Chikako took pride in this. For once she saw her parents as the independent, headstrong young adults Yubaba had known in place of the pathetic embarrassment she so often thought of them as. She was proud to be as determined as her mother and as tough as her father.

"Keiko, you will go down to the first floor and clean…" Yubaba started. And so began another very long day.

AN: Sorry I lied about updating. As high school life has taken over my brain Fanfiction has been pushed out. But I really enjoyed writing this story, so I'll definitely try to write a new chapter soon. I think Kohaku needs to come for a visit…


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